Pull-out cabinet



Dec. 15, 1970 Aw. D. TEAGUE, JR y3,547,507

BULL-OUT CABINET Filed Aug. 26. 1968 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,547,507 PULL-OUT CABINET Walter Dorwin Teague, Jr., Nyack, N.Y., assignor to The Tappan Company, Mansfield, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Aug. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 755,335 Int. Cl. A47b 67/02 U.S. Cl. 312-246 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a cabinet for kitchens and the like where it is mounted for endwise sliding movement within counter or other structure forming a recess within which the cabinet is normally contained and from which it is pulled for side access to its shelving or storage areas.

The principal advantage of this type of cabinet is of course the ready access it provides to the nor-mal rear of the storage, which is often unusable in the usual fixed front-opening cabinet, and the sliding cabinet is believed most eiiicient when relatively narrow, so that the structure is not cumbersome and all of the items on the shelves, for example, are easily seen and reached when the cabinet is pulled out. The narrow section, however, when combined with the depth and height of a kitchen counter, or overhead cabinetry where it might be used as well, results in a very diiiicult cabinet form to mount with conventional sliding means. A kitchen counter, for example, is roughly 24 in. deep and 36 in. high, while an overhead cabinet in a lkitchen usually measures roughly 12 in. deep and 30 in. high. IUtilizing such dimensioning as fully as possible for the pull-out cabinet, which may be on the order of 12 in. wide, is obviously desired, and it will be appreciated accordingly that the configuration, especially when containing an appreciable number of the items usually stored in such a cabinet, can be quite unstable as it is extended and place considerable load on its mounting.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide such a pull-out cabinet characterized by an improved mounting which permits it safely and conveniently to be of the size and proportioning indicated and thus suited particularly for use in kitchens and other comparable work areas.

Another object is the provision of such a cabinet which is supported by a hinging system rather than a sliding means, thereby avoiding the friction of the latter, with such system being relatively inexpensive and providing a quiet and effortless action.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but one of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawing: l

FIG. l is a perspective view of a cabinet equipped with a hinging system for its support in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of a kitchen cabinet Wall in which two of the new cabinets are included;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view indicated by the line 3 3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is another perspective of a cabinet having a modied hinge support; and

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view of one of the hinge members shown in FIG. 4.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, cabinet 10 typically is closed at all sides but one and is provided with a plurality of spaced shelves 11, but without the usual door or doors for closing the open side. The proportioning is on the order discussed in the above, with the cabinet width accordingly relatively narrow as compared to its height and depth, the width in this case being understood to be the horizontal dimension of the end wall.

Attached to one end wall 12 of the cabinet are three hinges designated generally at 13, 14 and 15. Hinge 13 is vertically oriented and has a lirst attached section 16 which is secured, e.g., by screws, against such wall at and extending along roughly the top one-third of the front edge of the wall. This hinge further comprises main 'body sections 17, 118 and a second attaching section 19, all of the same height, and there is a pivot axis 20 between the sections 1'6 and 17, another 21 between sections 17 and 118, and a last pivot axis 23 between sections 18 and 19.

Hinges 14 and 15 are similarly formed, with hinge 14 horizontally oriented and extending fully over the Width of the cabinet end wall, and hinge 15 disposed correspondingly as the hinge 13 at the approximate bottom third of the wall. When the three hinges are folded or closed, they are substantially coextensive with the wall. The vertical hinges are of such strength that they can fully support the cabinet at all times, while the horizontal hinge can be of somewhat lighter construction, since it serves as a stabilizer preventing side sway or misalignment of the cabinet as it moves in and out relative to the txed support to which the hinges are attached for the mounting of the cabinet.

In FIG. 2, the cabinet is shown incorporated in a kitchen counter 23, against wall 24, with the cabinet relatively inverted as compared in FIG. l for convenience of illustration. Another such cabinet 10 is shown in a high enclosure 25 on the same wall at a spacing above the counter and at the somewhat reduced dimensioning common in kitchen wall cabinets. ln both cases, the hinge system provides the full support for the in and out movement and, preferably, the installation in each case will include some means for normally holding the cabinet in the closed or relatively retracted condition.

The hinge system described above is entirely within the area of the cabinet end wall in all conditions of adjustment, while a second form shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 has has the horizontal hinge 14 folding upwardly from the top of the cabinet 10 and thus requiring some storage accommodation within the enclosure for the cabinet. A single vertical hinge 26 is, moreover, used here to provide the support fully over the height of the cabinet, and the action will be seen to be the same as first described.

The hinges are shown as of integral molded form, with polypropylene and its copolymers an example of a material which can be used, since it is rigid with exceptional flex life and can be stiffened with iillers such as glass bers and the like. Such a hinge, and particularly where used for support as the hinge 26, can also be molded with flanges and reinforcing ribs as shown at 27 and 2:8, for added rigidity. It will, however, be appreciated that the hinging can be differently formed and employed in the arangements shown for the desired stabilized support of the cabinet, e.g., the body plates could be lmade of plywood and piano hinges used for the attachment parts and the pivotal interconnection of such plates. f

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be ernployed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. The combination of building construction forming a recess open at the front, a cabinet disposed endwise in such recess and having an open side, hinge means supporting the cabinet freely in the recess and for extension therefrom by pulling and return, said hinge means comprising two pivotally united body plates, means pivotally attaching the free edges of such plates on vertical pivot axes respectively to the inner end of the cabinet and to the building construction at the rear of the recess, and means in the recess for laterally guiding and stabilizing the cabinet in its -movement from and into the recess.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, wherein the hinge means is attached to and supports the cabinet over more than half the height of the same.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means in the recess for laterally guiding the cabinet comprises horizontally oriented hinge means connected between the building construction at the rear of the recess and the inner end of the cabinet.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3, wherein the first-named hinge means and said horizontally oriented hinge means are each formed of a single piece of polypropylene.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 232,127 9/1880 Hicks 312-250X 1,380,222 5/1921 Lichtenberg 312-246 2,589,441 3/ 1952 Siegel 3 l2-250X 2,805,905 9/1957 Levitan 312--249X NILE C. BYERS, JR., Primary Examiner 

